Lufthansa Airbus A380 Diverts Over iPad Trapped In Seat

Yeah, this seems like something airlines will need to invest in being able to solve onboard.

The stupidity of passengers not being able to hang onto their stuff never ceases to amaze me.

Have you heard of this concept called an accident?

Lufthansa is having a real Air India moment. Meaning a string of incidents and less than edifying moments.

The ROI of that investment would be overwhelmingly negative compared to taking the rare diversion (just like this one).

Or sleep?

If the risk of fire is so high, couldn't a group of terrorists show up with an iPad and lodge it in their seat then threaten to hit the recline button if their demands aren't met?

How often does this happen on, say... Finnair?

The worst case is not the inconvenience of an occasional diversion, it's a battery getting crushed and starting a fire. 4.4 billion air passengers per year...even if only 1% of those passengers are sitting in motorized seats, that's 44 million opportunities a year. We're lucky there hasn't already been a disaster. I'd think (hope?) manufacturers program their seats to stop if there is unexpected resistance, but even then I wouldn't trust that to work 100% of the time.

I wonder how many passengers don't say anything because they fear it will cause a diversion?

I dropped a phone once that ended up on the floor under a Thai A350 business class seat. I could feel it with my fingertips, and eventually I was able to push it out using the emergency information card. The seat was upright when it happened, so my plan was to not move the seat and to only let the crew know if I couldn't get it out myself by the time we landed. It was a short flight to CGK, but I couldn't risk a diversion since I had a self-connect to a domestic flight.

In general, a diversion seems like an overkill. Why not disable the seat controls, and if the seat is not in a landing configuration move the passenger to a different seat (in any cabin) for landing. Hard to imagine A380 not having any empty seats.

Ban IPads in Business Class. You have a large screen already and can sleep otherwise. Having an electronically moving seat and loose devices is a bad recipe.

Impressive that the net delay was only 3 hours.

JJ, many are unaware of the difference between possibility and probability.
It is possible that one might be crushed by an errant aircraft wheel falling from an over flying aeroplane, however, the probability is minuscule.
I am not trying to advocate that an incident will never occur, however, it must be considered in context.

Thanks to Finnair's Airlounge seat, I would claim it is impossible to have your iPad stuck in the seat.

Challenge accepted!

"ROI of that investment"

A toolbox is hardly a big investment.

"At a minimum, I’m curious to what extent seat manufacturers are considering ways to mitigate the risk of electronics being stuck in seats"

Easy solution. Provide a toolkit onboard to take apart a seat and train the purser in its use.

I can't believe we have aircraft carrying hundreds of passengers flying through the skies without even a basic toolkit on board to deal with simple cabin maintenance issues like this. It's actually staggering when you think about.

This is f'ing ridiculous. That was probably a $100,000 mistake, all the costs resulting from it.
Airlines need to come up with plans to move the passenger, take the seat out of service, and continue the flight.
This is a travesty for both the airline's finances and the environment.

Absolutely ludicrous. The reasoning is still ridiculous. There's no thermal runaway. IPads are designed to shut down due to overheating.

I would have just left it alone and slept and asked upon landing. Who knows to tell the flight attendant that your iPad is underneath the seat?

Thermal runaway on your iPad would be nice to maybe heat your butt slightly in the event of nuclear winter. We are not talking a different class of power source. We are not talking commercial Li-Ion batteries for industrial use. Ridiculous standard. Your standard iPhone could also produce a spark conducive to ignition of surrounding surfaces.

If it slipped in into a seat then it could be extracted the same way. Good Grief

I would have thought the crew would be more trained to get it out of the seat safely. Luckily none of my flights ahve been diverted yet.

Surprised they did not give someone a fire extinguisher and ask them to keep an eye on the iPad?

Not necessarily. If it slips into the seat and then falls to a diagonal angle resting on a piece of seat machinery it would be difficult to remove without tools or taking panels or seats parts off. Plenty of conceivable ways for it to get stuck.

It’s part of the safety announcement on AA now, and I believe a few other airlines.

@Eskimo I hope you’re not trying this on my Finnair flight this summer 😛

Simple suggestion. Fire retardant cloth liners between arm rests, sets, and between back and seat cushions. Would look ok, simplify cleaning, and prevents misery.

What class of service was the passenger flying? Was there not another seat available so that the iPad could have been retrieved in Munich? If it has been a cell phone or iWatch would the crew made the same decision?

I ask these questions to clarify the decision making to decide to divert over this situation.

I suspect that a crew change was mandated due to possibly exceeding the number of operating hours restriction. Could be a factor on selecting Boston for the diversion.

Imagine getting diverted and telling your parents that you couldn't make it home because of somebody's iPad got stuck in a seat.